Your divorce can have major financial implications for your life moving forward. That’s why you need to aggressively seek an outcome that is fair and best positions you for success post-divorce. While this certainly means focusing on property division, it also means turning a keen eye toward spousal support. But even if you think that you’ll be able to successfully argue that you’re entitled to spousal support, how much will you end up getting?
That’s a tough question to answer, as a lot of factors are taken into consideration when making that determination. However, one of the most important characteristics that will come into play is the marital standard of living.
Assessing the marital standard of living
In its most basic terms, the marital standard of living is simply the lifestyle that was enjoyed by the parties during the course of the marriage. This includes the size and location of the marital residence, but it can also take into account a whole host of other characteristics such as vacations, the children’s schooling, and even the type and frequency of dining out and engaging in retail shopping.
The courts tend to look at the marital standard of living in the context of the couple’s reasonable needs in light of their general station in life. This means that a court will only consider the standard of living that the couple could actually afford during the course of marriage and not some inflated lifestyle that was funded by debt.
Seek out the support that you are rightfully owed
The hope is that the individual who pays child support will be able to raise the receiving individual to a point where both can enjoy the marital standard of living. That may not always be possible, though, especially shortly after a divorce. However, if you can present strong evidence of the marital standard of living, then you have a decent shot at sharing in your former spouse’s successes well after divorce is finalized. This can improve your lifestyle and standard of living, and ensure that you are getting what is rightfully yours out of your failed marriage.
